John Pilgrim: You really do meet all sorts when you’re out with the dog

Published:17:24Friday 16 September 2011

THE majority of my time these days is spent either watching TV or walking the dog and one way or another it keeps me happy.

I meet so many nice people who are also walking their canine friends on a regular basis and it’s fair to say that all human life is there.

One elderly lady walks her son’s two dogs twice a day because the boy cannot be bothered to take them himself. I haven’t asked the lady how old her boy is but he must be cracking on a bit because his mum is over eighty!

The other day the poor lady told us that Henry, a beautiful male springer, had received a kicking from some local yobs as he wandered through the woods in the park.

Quite how these sick excuses for human beings can live with themselves or what kind of parents they are going to make if they finally grow up I can’t begin to think.

Two days after the kicking incident our lovely lady turned up in the park with a massive bruise on her nose. Fearing the worst I didn’t like to ask as to how she got the bruise but luckily she told me.

She is obsessed with collecting wild fruit during her walks and she supplies the rest of us with enough apples and wild plums to make massive amounts of pies, jams and relishes and it seems that an apple gave her the bruise.

The park is on land that used to be a farm and a lot of fruit trees have survived and our intrepid scrumper decided to throw branches at the really good apples situated in the top of a tree. It appears that at least one throw hit its mark because the prize apple clouted her right on the conk!

I suggested that she should take her obsession to AA (Apples Anonymous) but she declined because she was too busy collecting wild plums and cherries. You really do see life when you take the dog for a walk.

As for my other pastime, my hate the TV advert award of the month goes to the private health company that states we should all pay to join them because they “really do care” in a tone of voice that appears to suggest that the NHS does not.

To me that is most unfair on many hard working members of hospital staff throughout the NHS who struggle on a regular basis to offer a good service to the public without being paid enough.

But I really enjoyed this year’s Last Night Of The Proms and singing Jerusalem at the top of my voice all alone in my front room. Heaven knows what the neighbours thought.